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<h1>Hard Disk I/O</h1>
<p>The test creates a buffered file writer and writes a file to the hard disk. The file should be between 256 KB and 2 MB in size. A recommended size would be 768 KB. The test must create the file (overwrite if it exists), write to the file, read from the file, and close the file, multiple times within its test loop for the duration of the test. The result is the total KB written, divided by the actual duration of the test.</p>
<p>After the test has completed you are presented the results.</p>
<p>The hard disk transfer rate is the rate at which data can be read from a hard 
disk. This only involves reading from the hard disk and writing to memory. Also, 
these are real-life tests of the hard disk. Maximum transfer rates will be much 
higher. Hard disk transfer rates are measured in megabytes per second (in 
previous versions they were measured as KB/s).</p>
<table cols="3" width="590" border="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0">
  <caption>
  <p align="left"><b>The table below shows the expected transfer rates for disk 
  drives</b></p>
  </caption>
  <tr>
    <td width="265"><b>Drive</b></td>
    <td width="169"><b>&nbsp;Transfer Rate (MB/s)</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">1 GB IDE Hard Disk</td>
    <td width="169">1.50</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">2.1 GB UDMA 5400 RPM Hard Disk</td>
    <td width="169">3.00</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">3.2/6.4 GB ATA-33 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">4.00</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">4.3/8.4 GB ATA-33 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">5.50</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">6.8/13.6 GB ATA-66 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">8.70</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">10.2/20.4 GB ATA-66 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">13.5</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">10.2/20.4 GB ATA-66 7200 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">18.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">15.3/30.6 GB ATA-100 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">20.3</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">15.3/30.6 GB ATA-100 7200 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">27.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">20.4/40.8 GB ATA-100 5400 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">25.6</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="265">20.4/40.8 GB ATA-133 7200 RPM</td>
    <td width="169">34.1</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><b>Expected speeds for IDE hard drives:</b> </p>
<p>Here's how to find the expected speed for a hard drive, using its RPM speed 
and size:<br>
<b>expected speed = (RPM * size) / 4500</b></p>
<p><b>Where:</b></p>
<p><i>Expected speed</i> is the transfer rate that you should expect in Dacris 
Benchmarks.<br>
<i>RPM</i> is the speed in rotations per minute of your drive.<br>
<i>size</i> is NOT the size of the hard disk, but rather the capacity <b>per 
platter</b>. You can find this info at your manufacturer's website.</p>
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